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Vestibular Balance-Cognition Dual-Task Digital System: Development of a Smart Rehabilitation Platform for the Elderly and Prediction of Balance Function Risks

NCT07735078 · Status: RECRUITING · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 55

Last updated 2026-07-29

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This study is being done to better understand how vestibular problems and thinking abilities (such as attention and mental flexibility) are related in older adults, and how doing a balance task and a thinking task at the same time affects their performance. Older adults will first complete questionnaires and simple paper-and-pencil tests of attention, memory, and mental rotation while seated. They will then perform standing balance tasks on a portable force platform under different conditions (eyes open, eyes closed, standing on a foam surface) and will repeat some of the thinking tasks at the same time. Next, participants will walk on a treadmill while wearing small motion sensors, both with and without added thinking tasks such as serial subtraction and digit reordering. The total testing time is about 90 minutes. Two groups will be included: healthy older adults and older adults who have had dizziness or falls in the past two years. By comparing these groups, the study aims to provide a basis for designing future dual-task assessment and training programs to reduce balance problems and falls in older adults.

Conditions

  • Vestibular Dysfunction
  • Dizziness
  • Falls (Accidents) in Old Age
  • Balance Assessment
  • Cognitive Function Decline
  • Dual-Task Performance

Interventions

DEVICE

Instrumented balance and gait assessment using wearable inertial sensors

Participants undergo a series of static and dynamic balance and gait assessments in a motion analysis laboratory while wearing body-segment inertial measurement units (IMUs). The sensors provide real-time signals for interaction with the evaluation system during single-task and dual-task standing and walking tests.

OTHER

Questionnaires and paper-based cognitive tests

Participants complete a battery of self-report questionnaires and paper-based cognitive tests after explanation by a physical therapist. Instruments include dizziness and balance scales, the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale, and cognitive tests such as the WAIS-III Taiwan Digit Odd-Even Sequencing Test, Taiwan Stroop Word-Color Test, path judgment tasks, and mental rotation tasks. Questionnaires are administered verbally and responses recorded in writing.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Po-Yin Chen, PhD · National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Department of Physical Therapy and Assistive Technology

Eligibility

Min Age
55 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-02-10
Primary Completion
2026-07-31
Completion
2027-03-11

Countries

  • Taiwan

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07735078 on ClinicalTrials.gov